Báthory family
Báthory | |
---|---|
Gutkeled | |
Country | Kingdom of Hungary Principality of Transylvania Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth |
Founded | 13th century |
Founder | Briccius |
Final ruler | Stephen XII (Ecsed branch) Andrew[who?] (Somlyó branch) |
Titles | |
Dissolution | 1605 (Ecsed branch) 1637 (Somlyó branch) |
Cadet branches | Ecsed branch Szaniszlófi branch
|
The House of Báthory (
Origins
The Báthory family belonged to the
In 1279, King Ladislaus IV rewarded Andrew's brother Hodos and Andrew's sons George (d. 1307), Benedict (d. 1321) and Briccius (d. 1322) for their military services by granting them Bátor in the county of Szabolcs. Bátor had been the estate of Vajda son of Lángos, who had married a relative of Andrew but died without issue.[3]
In 1310, Bátor came into the sole possession of Briccius when he reached an agreement with his nephew Michael and his cousin Vid to divide the joint possessions. After this, Briccius and his descendants named themselves Báthory, i.e. "of Bátor".[4]
Branches
The family divided into two major branches, which descended from the sons and grandsons of Briccius:
The elder branch of the family, the Báthory of Somlyó were descended from John, Count of
The younger branch of the family, the Báthory of Ecsed, were descended from Luke, the youngest son of Briccius. Luke possessed wide estates in
This branch, since they retained the possession of Bátor, are sometimes called of Bátor or, as the younger branch, Nyírbátor (New Bathory).[3]Legend and coats of arms
A legendary account, placing the Báthorys' origin in the year 900 (preceding the advent of the Gutkeled clan), relates how a god-fearing warrior called Vitus (a namesake of a member of the first generation of the Gutkeled clan) set out to fight a dragon, which lurked in the swamps next to the castle of
The Báthory coat of arms, granted in 1325 to the sons of Briccius, was styled in reference to this legend: three horizontally placed teeth surrounded by a dragon biting its own tail,[4] the surrounding dragon being the emblem of the Order of the Dragon.
Further history
The Ecsed branch first rises to prominence with the sons of Luke's grandson John V. His eldest son Bartholomew I fell in 1432 fighting against the
Of Stephen's six sons, Ladislaus V (d. 1474) was supreme count of the counties
The youngest son, Nicolaus III (d. 1506), bishop first of Syrmia and after 1474 of Vác, excelled as a renaissance scholar and served as counselor to King Matthias Corvinus.
After the harsh and fierce battle, Hungary was torn apart by the conflict between the rival royal claims. The two branches of the family positioned themselves on the opposing sides of the conflict. The Ecsed branch commonly sided with the Habsburgs: Stephen VII, who had escaped the battle, fled with Louis' widow to Pozsony (now Bratislava), where he organized the election of Ferdinand of Austria as King of Hungary. In the 1550s, when Ferdinand briefly gained control of Transylvania in 1551, he installed Stephen's nephew Bonaventura as his lieutenant to govern the country.
The Somlyó branch, on the other hand, supported
Impressed by Stephen, George VI Báthory, of the Ecsed branch, was persuaded to change his allegiance from the Habsburgs to Zápolya, for which the Habsburg king deprived him of his castle Bujak. George strengthened his alliance to Stephen by marrying his sister Anna, uniting the branches. Anna Báthory was the widow of the last descendant of the Dragfi family and George now seized the castles of the Dragfi. Since the Dragfi estates were legally due to the crown, the Habsburgs forced George to yield the castles and withdrew to Csitsva in Zemplén County.
George and Anna Báthory produced the most infamous member of the family, Elizabeth, a widow Countess who was eventually tried and found guilty in a show trial of murdering hundreds of young peasant girls over the course of twenty years. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in one of the Báthory castles. According to the opinions of a majority of historians, legends such as her bathing in the blood of the young women were based on later rumors; the charges themselves were most likely false, trumped up in order to steal her lands from her.[6][7] Some scholars have suggested that she served as one of Bram Stoker's influences for writing the novel Dracula, but the evidence to support this is slim.[8]
Notable members of the Somlyó branch
- Stephen VIII Báthory (1477–1534), Voivode of Transylvania.
- Grand Duke of Lithuania.
- Christopher Báthory (1530–1581), son of Stephen Báthory of Somlyó and elder brother of the King of Poland, administered Transylvania as voivode during the absence of his brother.
- Sigismund Báthory (1572–1613), son of Christopher, Prince of Transylvania.
- Cardinal Andrew Báthory (1562/63–1599), cousin of Sigismund, Prince of Transylvania, Grand Master of the Order of the Dragon.
- Gabriel I Báthory (1589–1613), nephew of Andrew, Prince of Transylvania.
- Sophia Báthory (died 1680), niece of Gabriel Báthory, married to George II Rákóczi uniting the families of the Báthory and the Rákóczi, supported the Counter-Reformation.
Notable members of the Ecsed branch
- Palatine of Hungary
- Stephen V Báthory (died 1493), Voivode of Transylvania
- Barbara Báthory, daughter of Andrew III, married Palatine Emericus de Perén
- George V Báthory, son of Andrew III, Agazonum regalium magister, supreme count of Sümegh
- Palatine of Hungary
- Szatmár, married Catherine of Rozgon, which brought him the castles of Csitsva, Cserép, Rozgon and Thora.
- Szatmár and Szabolcs, later tabernicorum regalium magister and royal judge. He married twice without having issue.
- Nicolaus VI Báthory (died 1585), son of Andrew IV, a royal judge, he is described as "a man of rare honesty, powerful in possessions and influence east of the river Theiss", he died after falling from a chariot.
- George VI Báthory, son of Andrew IV, turned on the Habsburgs. Father of Elizabeth Báthory.
- Stephen Bocskayin his rebellion against the Habsburg, dies shortly afterward.
- Gabriel Báthory, the younger brother of Stephen XII, was the last male member of the Ecsed line. It is unclear whether he died before or after his sisters Elizabeth and Sophia.
- Elizabeth Báthory (died 1614), daughter of George VI and through her mother, niece of the Polish King Stephen Báthory. Descendant of both the Ecsed and Somlyó branches of the Bathory family. Ferenc Nádasdy's wife, and after his death, the wealth and properties were inherited by her.
Báthory of Simolin
Another branch of the family are the Báthory of
See also
Notes
- ^ . www.ungarische-adelshauser.com https://www.ungarische-adelshauser.com/.
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(help) - ISBN 963-9116-31-9
- ^ a b c d Moritz Wertner, "Urgeschlechter in Siebenbürgen.", in Archiv des Vereins für siebenbürgische Landeskunde. Neue Folge, Bd. 29, Heft 1 (1899), Hermannstadt 1899, pp. 156-235 - also excerpted in Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 356-358.
- ^ a b Christian von Stramberg, Das Haus Báthory in seinen Verzweigungen bis auf den heutigen Tag, Berlin: Manuscript für Freunde des Hauses, 1853 - quoted in Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 354-356, 359-362.
- ^ a b c Stammtafel nach Alexander von Simolin - printed in Farin, Heroine des Grauens, p. 357, 361.
- ^ The Bloody Countess?
- ^ The Lies about Elizabeth Bathory - National Geographic Channel
- ^ Elizabeth Miller, "Bram Stoker, Elizabeth Bathory and Dracula"
- ^ "Simolin". Retro|bib - Seite aus Meyers Konversationslexikon: Simme - Simolin. Meyers Konversationslexikon (in German). Vol. 14 (Fourth ed.). Leipzig and Vienna: Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts. 1885–1892. pp. 983–984. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
- ^ Meyers Konversationslexikon: Simolin Archived October 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
Literature
- Craft, Kimberly, "Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory." (2009). ISBN 1-4495-1344-1.
- Farin, Michael, Heroine des Grauens. Elisabeth Báthory. Munich: P. Kirchheim, 2003. ISBN 3-87410-038-3.
- Wertner, Moritz, "Urgeschlechter in Siebenbürgen.", in Archiv des Vereins für siebenbürgische Landeskunde. Neue Folge, Bd. 29, Heft 1 (1899), Hermannstadt 1899, pp. 156–235.
External links
- Marek, Miroslav. "A genealogy of the founders of the Báthory family". Genealogy.EU.
- Marek, Miroslav. "A genealogy of the Somlyó branch". Genealogy.EU.
- Marek, Miroslav. "A genealogy of the Ecsed branch". Genealogy.EU.
- Heraldique Europeenne: Transylvania Archived 2012-11-04 at the Wayback Machine, including the coats-of-arms of several members of the Báthory family.